Unit Manager

Kisco redesigns memory care program to allow employees to navigate dementia with residents, families. Moving through the stages of dementia is difficult - for individuals living with dementia and their families, and for professional caregivers. Kisco Senior Living saw an opportunity to rebuild its memory care program to enable its employees to better accompany residents and families on their journey. The company's new approach, Heirloom Memory Care, is a Montessori-based, person-centered program emphasizing practical behavior change, team culture and staff member retention. Brenda Gurung, Kisco's national director of memory care services, said that Kisco completely rebuilt its memory care program with input from frontline workers, community leaders, industry experts and others. "We did not simply create a program and push it out to the organization. We co-created it together," she said, calling memory care not a job but a calling. "This is a path we're on together." Heirloom, she said, is a holistic interdisciplinary approach to providing care and services, "to strategize through behavioral expressions, to host engagements, to provide dignified dining experience." Although it includes Montessori principles, Gurung said it is more than that. "With Heirloom, we're trying to change the stigma of the dementia journey and to elevate the importance of the work provided by incredible associates who work in memory care neighborhoods at Kisco and throughout senior living," Gurung said. "That's why we created a program that invests in associates and also lifts them up." To that end, Kisco launched Memory Care Week, which she called a "first-of-its-kind for senior living," as a way to recognize the impact made by employees who work in memory care neighborhoods everywhere. This year, Kisco worked with the National Association of Activity Professionals to sponsor Memory Care Week, to further expand it within the industry. Sharing the joy. At the heart of the Heirloom program is a training model combining the certified Montessori dementia care professional certificate from the National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners with Kisco's own proprietary curriculum and immersive experiences, such as the Virtual Dementia Tour. Today, Kisco has just under 400 Montessori-certified professionals, with plans to expand training to additional communities. Gurung said the training began with memory care leaders and has evolved into a broader cultural shift. Kisco is working on certifying several employees in each of its communities, including its care services and life enrichment leaders, she said. "We want to provide practical, meaningful, effective tools and also, we choose to provide certification that is a literal investment in each of these associates. It belongs to them," Gurung said. "I believe this is sacred work." Kisco offers workshops for families and professionals to share what they've built with others in the field, regularly presenting information at industry conferences. "Each individual has a unique story, and being part of their journey is both a privilege and a joy," said Juliet Moody, hospitality services director at The Carnegie at Washingtonian Center, a Kisco community in Gaithersburg, MD. "In memory care, we foster an environment of compassion and understanding, where every moment matters." For those who have not previously thought about working in memory care, Gurung said "Join us. It is fulfilling, meaningful, hard, important work. We get to work with incredible individuals who have led full lives and who are now on a dementia journey."

Kisco Senior Living, a Carlsbad, CA-based provider that manages 32 communities across 10 states and Washington, DC, recently announced the launch of its Signature Travel Program.